A woman mourns the loss of her son outside a cremation ground, in Chitwan, Nepal
Kolkata: Six days after the devastating flash flood in Nepal, families of the 37 Bengal tourists still missing in the disaster zone are getting around to confronting questions they had until now been afraid to even articulate: What if their loved ones are never found? When does a missing person become legally dead? Can a spouse access a missing husband’s or wife’s bank account? Will insurance be paid without a death certificate? What happens to pension, investments, fixed deposits and property?
Life needs to move on for the rest of the family. ” During the 2013 Kedarnath flash flood, over 4,000 persons were reported missing. The ministry of home affairs (MHA) and Registrar General of India had then issued an SOP allowing state administrations to issue provisional lists of missing persons presumed dead after a fixed deadline of 45 days rather than seven years. During the 2021 Chamoli glacier disaster, when more than 136 workers and individuals went missing inside tunnels and downstream rivers, the state had used emergency provisions under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act. Public notices seeking objections were published in newspapers for 30 days. During the Bhuj earthquake and 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, insurers had opened special camps in affected regions, settling death claims based on certified local survivor lists and municipal disaster survivor registers without requiring standard civil court intervention.
A signed ‘letter of indemnity’ was taken from the nominee promising to return the funds if the person was found alive later.
A relative of a missing person from Hooghly said, “He was the main earning member of the family. The questions are particularly pressing for families where the missing person was the main earning member. What will happen to his child and wife? If the bodies are not found and these people are not declared dead, how can the families get death certificates to process insurance or access bank accounts? RBI and finance ministry had directed banks and insurers (LIC) to waive the seven-year waiting period and settle claims based on a missing certificate issued by designated district officers/sub-divisional magistrates. In the absence of objections, death certificates were issued within months to process state ex gratia compensation, PF payouts and insurance.